The start of something magical
Reading through Sonny’s post shot me back into a time of awesomeness. Be sure to read his post on what we can learn from our past. People always ask me why I collect old computers and he does a great job of outlining why. Just because the technology isn’t modern doesn’t mean the underlying principles are not applicable to todays world. Be sure to stroll on over to Sonny’s blog to read more:
http://buzzfreezone.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/geek-nostalgia-what-my-geek-past-has-taught-me/
From my Vintage Stable post…
Nick’s Take: My Father reenlisted while we were stationed in Sicily and bought me my first computer. For months we rode our bikes to the BX and I ran to play frogger on the floor model. 500 dollars to a poor enlisted family was a lot of money, but Dad came through and started my life of tech passion. This machine served as the workhorse in our family for many many years. It was the place I first coded, the machine I wrote my first newspaper articles on, my first foray into BBS. So many firsts were on a C64. My parents sold that machine to friends and for years I tearfully remembered the machine wishing they hadn’t. A few years ago they found a neighbor who had a new one in the box with all the periphals in the attic. It was the greatest christmas ever :)
Funny Story: I had my mother convinced that typing my spelling words was as good as writing them. I abhorred writing my spelling words and as I learned programming figured out a few short-cuts. After mom was okay with the thought of me “typing” the spelling words and printing the results for her review I moved to programming the process. My first useful program was printing each word 10 times in blocks and printing. I’d go to my room to study and play games for 45 minutes before running my little program, printing the results, and then showing mom. It was my little secret to why I all of a sudden enjoyed spelling words.
— UPDATE — My parents sent me the awesome pic above of me playing that original C64 in Sicily — UPDATE —